The National Football League is used to big, bruising battles. But on Friday, it announced that it was likely staying out of one of the roughest fights in Washington: the war over Obamacare.

Earlier this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius disclosed that the Obama administration was in talks with the sports organization to help promote the law, which enters a new phase as advocates prepare to begin enrolling millions of Americans in health insurance this fall.

On Friday, Republican leaders in the Senate issued a stern warning to sports organizations not to partner with the White House on an issue marked by such divisiveness and persistent unpopularity.

Asked about the congressional letter, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league had not made any commitment to the administration.

We have responded to the letters we received from members of Congress to inform them we currently have no plans to engage in this area and have had no substantive contact with the administration about [the health-care laws] implementation, he said in an e-mail.

The NFLs decision is the latest blow to the administration over the health-care law, which faces enormous hurdles as key portions go into effect in the coming months. Chief among the challenges is the political opposition to the law, which has persisted since its passage in 2010 despite hopes on the part of advocates that it would eventually be accepted as the law of the land. . .

I just want to watch the game. I do not want to sit through “public service” announcements which are propaganda for any social/political issues.

If Obamacare is so wonderful, why does our government feel the need for a public relations campaign to explain to us how wonderful it is? Isn’t that what Democrat politicians are for, to explain to us how wonderful their overhaul of healthcare is?

I don’t get. The crappy Obamacare law has already passed. Why does the administration need to turn pro teams into cheerleading squads for the law? Is it because the administration afraid that no one is actually going to comply with the law, and noncompliance will be so pervasive that attempts to legally enforce it will amount to naught, and ObamaCare will by default be repealed as a practical matter by the people? Wouldn’t that be delicious.

NFL owners have no reason to get into bed with this administration on this nonsense. In fact, NFL teams are among the businesses in this country whose owners should be most strongly opposed to a stupid Federal law that mandates insurance coverage that these businesses already offer nearly all of their employees anyway.

It could simply be a business decision. NFL games are one of the few things on TV that aren’t racially divided (both blacks and whites watch) and attracts a wide age range, though mostly male. Promoting Obamacare could drive away conservative voters from watching, right before sweeps and the start of the next season.
So the financial cost is more than any incentives and brownie points with the fed.

The business “Holly Hobby” has successfully put the mandate of Obamacare 'on hold'....court determined in their favor for being a Christian Based business who cannot be forced to pay for abortions, contraception and the like...

Will be interesting to see if they win, but until there is a determination they do not have to go under Obamacare.

[Is it because the administration is afraid that no one is actually going to comply with the law, and noncompliance will be so pervasive that attempts to legally enforce it will amount to naught, and ObamaCare will by default be repealed as a practical matter by the people?]

Exactly. Something like 40 percent of the population have only a vague notion of what ObamaCare is and that they are mandated to participate. Many people think ObamaCare equals free health care. There is so much confusion and there will be so many nonparticipants, due to ignorance alone, that the law may be impossible to enforce, at least in the first couple of years.

21
posted on 06/29/2013 9:23:43 AM PDT
by Brad from Tennessee
(A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)

F the NFL, a bunch of millionaire athletes who’ve been spoon-fed pablum their entire lives, who so often spit on their adulating fans. A bunch of millionaires who excel at slurping tax money from the public trough. The NFL is the #1 American entertainment addiction. I wouldn’t care much except they expect me to pay for their place of business.

I don’t think so. They’re working too hard to get the American people on their side on this issue — and So bilious wouldn’t be hawking it left and right trying to “sell it” if they thought it wouldn’t work. They really have no clue.

F the NFL, a bunch of millionaire athletes whove been spoon-fed pablum their entire lives, who so often spit on their adulating fans. A bunch of millionaires who excel at slurping tax money from the public trough. The NFL is the #1 American entertainment addiction. I wouldnt care much except they expect me to pay for their place of business.

Which sport's participants do you find better?

35
posted on 06/29/2013 10:28:43 AM PDT
by wastedyears
(I'm a gamer not because I choose to have no life, but because I choose to have many.)

If I could not find an alternative sport model as an example would that excuse these millionaires pickpocketing of tax money from my wallet to theirs?

Is it required to have at least one sport to exalt? It’s just a big business entertainment venue, whatever your sport.

I’m not a fan and I object to having to pay for their stadiums when I buy a beer, or rent a car, or pay via the 100’s of other mechanisms they’ve dreamed up to avoid having to pay for themselves.

Sorry comrade, but that’s socialism from one side of their mouths asking the public to build a stadium, and capitalism out of the other, paying huge salaries, mega-millions for the biggest stars. Maybe they’ll move the season start up this year, the masses need ever more and more distracting these days.

More than one game a week for football is too much, what with plays that last only a few seconds on average, and jogging on and off the field, vs hockey where play could go for minutes without a whistle.

What have they dreamed up that you pay for, so they don’t have to pay for themselves, aside from stuff like plates and beer with teams on them?

43
posted on 06/29/2013 12:33:59 PM PDT
by wastedyears
(I'm a gamer not because I choose to have no life, but because I choose to have many.)

“NFL owners have no reason to get into bed with this administration on this nonsense. In fact, NFL teams are among the businesses in this country whose owners should be most strongly opposed to a stupid Federal law that mandates insurance coverage that these businesses already offer nearly all of their employees anyway.”

The major sports leagues are exempt to federal anti-trust laws by the good graces of congress. So, it’s smart on their part to not pick a dog in this fight.

45
posted on 06/29/2013 1:19:52 PM PDT
by snoringbear
(E.oGovernment is the Pimp,)

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